iPhone 6s

In what was a notable change this summer, Apple opted to not remove the dedicated Apple Events channel on Apple TV after WWDC 2015 as it has done several weeks after media events in the past. Instead the Apple Events channel has become a permanent app on the Apple TV, serving as a central spot for viewing prior major product announcements without relying on searching the YouTube channel (which has since been removed from Apple TV 2 boxes).

Ahead of prior events, though, the reappearance of the Apple Events channel has been a bit of a ritual that drums up excitement and signals that Apple is indeed livestreaming its upcoming event. Apple has recently moved to livestreaming every event (in the past it was not guaranteed) and we already knew tomorrow’s iPhone 6S and Apple TV 4 event would be broadcasted live, but there’s still a pre-event change on the Apple Events channel awaiting Apple TV users.

Just hours before the iPhone 6S announcement kicks off in San Francisco, Apple has refreshed the Apple Events channel with a new icon matching the event teaser artwork and more.
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Following the apparent leak of iPhone 6s Plus packaging last month, an image purporting to show the front of the iPhone 6s box has appeared on Dutch site Techtastic, following the same design theme. Like the iPhone 6s Plus box (shown below), which featured a gold and black fish that looked almost like a flower, the alleged iPhone 6s box shows what appears to be a partially golden fish against an all-white background, matching the gold or rose gold edges of the device. Update: Another image, supposedly showing a black and red fish on a space gray iPhone 6s, has also appeared.

Our reports leading up to the official unveiling of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus noted that Apple plans to add Motion backgrounds to the new iPhones, paralleling a feature introduced on the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch’s Motion backgrounds include timelapse animations of flowers, butterflies flapping their wings, and jellyfish moving against black backgrounds. New backgrounds containing animated fish and colorful bursts of smoke are expected to debut on the iPhones.

Despite the significant similarities in the alleged iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus boxes, however, there are some details that don’t match up exactly, suggesting that one or both are prototypes of the final packaging…

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A day before the announcement of the new iPhones, analytics company Localytics has provided a picture of the iPhone market today. It shows that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus between them account for a full 40% of all iPhones in use, with the iPhone 5s trailing behind at 23.7%.

The same data also backs our report that the iPhone 5c is being discontinued, showing that it accounts for just 8.5% of active iPhones, putting it below the iPhone 4S. This can only add to doubts about whether the often rumored and debunked iPhone 6c (beautiful concept images below) could succeed … 
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Our exclusive report that the Force Touch feature in the new iPhones will be a more advanced form of the technology than used in the Apple Watch has been supported by what may be the patent behind it.

Prompted by our report, Patently Apple revisited a patent published in Europe in July and found references which point to the ability to measure three levels of force. While the technology used in the Apple Watch can measure varying levels of pressure (as can be seen in the animation if you slowly increase pressure, for example on the notifications screen), the measurement is translated into just two levels: a touch or a press. 3D Force Touch adds a third level of sensitivity … 
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Although we may be just three days away from the unveiling of the iPhone 6S, which will mirror the iPhone 6 in appearance, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is already looking forward to the iPhone after the iPhone 6S, which would be named ‘iPhone 7’ if Apple followed previous year trends. In the tock year, Apple has typically changed the way the iPhone looks externally and apparently 2016 will be no different. The report says the next iPhone will approach iPod touch levels of thinness, with a body between 6 and 6.5mm. For comparison, the current iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are 6.9 and 7.1mm respectively.

It also indicates that the next-generation iPhone will use the same Force Touch technology as the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 6S and 6S Plus as Apple suppliers have invested heavily in the feature for this year’s devices.

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One of the cornerstone features of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, to be announced next Wednesday, is a screen based on the Force Touch technology from the latest MacBook trackpads and the Apple Watch. However, as we noted in previous articles such as our event expectations roundup from yesterday, the Force Touch feature in the new iPhones will actually be a next-generation version of the technology. According to sources familiar with the new iPhones, the new pressure-sensitive screen will likely be called the “3D Touch Display”…

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The very first Apple logos have started appearing at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, which will be the site of next week’s iPhone 6S/Apple TV event. A few photos have hit Twitter showing the company’s banners being put up in preparation for the event…

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A report from the usually-reliable KGI has repeated many of the details from our exclusives on the iPhone 6S, but additionally offered support for an earlier rumor that the front camera will be upgraded to 5MP. Surprisingly, it also suggests that the rear camera lens may not be sapphire, as it has apparently failed drop tests.

Aside from upgrading rear camera module to 12MP, Apple will upgrade front camera module to 5MP […] The new iPhone may not be equipped with sapphire cover lens, as it still has quality issues on the drop test.

Although sapphire is much more scratch-resistant than Gorilla Glass, it is more brittle, and thus at greater risk of shattering when dropped.

The company also repeated its concerns that limited appeal of the new features, together with external economic factors, is likely to result in flat or negative sales growth … 
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Apple’s September 9th event is set to be one of the company’s largest events in history, as is reflected by the expansive size of its San Francisco venue. Besides a pair of new iPhones, the substantially revamped Apple TV set top box, and new bands for the Apple Watch, Apple is currently planning to debut a pair of new iPads at next week’s event: the long-rumored iPad Pro, and a refreshed version of the iPad mini, according to trusted sources…

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With the recent announcement of the expected iPhone 6S and Apple TV 4 event, we’ve got a lot to talk about this week. From rumors to reporting, there’s no shortage of iPhone and Apple TV details to discuss. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.

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Kantar has refuted gloomy suggestions that record sales of the iPhone 6/Plus may make it tougher for Apple to persuade customers to upgrade, saying that its data “suggests Apple has ample opportunity for upgrades in Q4 2015 and 2016.”

The pessimistic view put forward in some quarters goes like this. There was a lot of pent-up demand for larger-screened iPhones. Everyone who wanted one has now bought one, so upgrade rates will now tail off significantly.

Kantar says that this view ignores the fact that people will continue to upgrade from older models. It points out that the average U.S. iPhone user upgrades every 25 months – and 31% of owners bought their current iPhone more than two years ago … 
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With the official announcement of Apple’s iPhone 6S just around the corner, Gazelle today announced limited-time promotional trade-in pricing for the iPhone 5s, 6, and 6 Plus, guaranteeing that Gazelle’s cash offer will “beat the trade-in credit offered by a customer’s wireless carrier or Apple.” The promotion applies to U.S. carriers AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, as well as Apple’s trade-in program.
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Rough mockup of fourth Apple TV vs. third Apple TV by Michael Steeber

With the official debut of the next-generation Apple TV less than two weeks away, sources have provided additional details on Apple’s pricing, availability, and product lineup plans for its set-top devices. According to sources, the fourth-generation Apple TV will be priced below $200, and is on track to become available in October. Apple executives are apparently still finalizing the price of the revamped living room device, but the latest options call for a starting price point of either $149 or $199, both higher than the third-generation Apple TV…

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A purported photo of an iPhone 6S information sheet has surfaced detailing the specifications of the upcoming iPhone, due to be announced at an event on September 9th. Whilst the detailed technical specifications do not reveal anything new, the page header is intriguing. It suggests that, once again, Apple will offer a 16 GB base model version of the iPhone 6S (via Steve Hemmerstoffer). This matches analysis of iPhone 6S components obtained by 9to5Mac back in June, which showed Apple using 16 GB memory chips in preproduction units.

Low storage space iPhone SKUs is a big complaint in the community. Many had thought this would be the year Apple finally drops 16 GB from the new lineup of phones for good. Although iOS 9 is more efficient regarding storage, features like 12-megapixel photos and 4K video recording generally require a lot more storage space. Some supplier reports have also said the new iPhone lineup will start at 32 GB.

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Earlier this year, reports began to suggest that Apple would launch the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in an additional color beyond the Space Gray, Silver, and Gold options that have been available in the popular iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s. Since then, there have been conflicting rumors regarding Apple’s color choice: some (including the Wall Street Journal) have claimed that the new iPhones would come in “pink,” while some analysts have referred to the color as “Rose Gold” (the discrepancy could be attributed to the similarity between colors). Today, our sources have confirmed that the new iPhones will actually come in a color that is unmistakably Rose Gold in both appearance and name…

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While Apple will unveil a pair of next-generation iPhones at its September 9th event, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, don’t expect a new 4-inch “iPhone 6c” to show up on stage. Sources say that while Apple has been working on a new 4-inch iPhone with the capabilities of last year’s iPhone 6, the device is not yet ready to ship. Interestingly, Apple has also internally prototyped a new, smaller iPhone with a 3.5-inch display, the same size of the iPhone’s screen from the first model in 2007 to the iPhone 4S in 2011, but it does not appear that the company plans to move forward with actually releasing such a device.

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Apple has just sent out official invitations to media outlets (via CNBC) for its next special event on September 9th. The tagline this year reads “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” The event will take place at 10 am PT at Bill Graham auditorium in San Francisco, California, which was rumored to be the venue ahead of the invites. Apple’s September event is set to include the next generation iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus as well as the long awaited Apple TV hardware update.

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One of the marquee upgrades to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be a major revamp to the camera system. For the first time since the iPhone 4S launch in 2011, the iPhone camera’s megapixel count will be upgraded: Apple will be moving from the 8-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 6 to a custom imager billed as 12-megapixels in both of the new iPhones, according to sources. The 12-megapixel camera will mean that the new iPhones will be able to take larger, higher-resolution photos than before. Because of an upgraded image signal processor that comes as part of the new A9 system-on-a-chip, the new sensor will not wash out or otherwise decrease the quality of photos, according to sources.

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New images have surfaced today giving us a closer look at the alleged next-generation iPhone display panel first revealed in earlier leaks (via MacRumors). The images don’t reveal any new information, but do give us a closer look at the part that appears to include new components thought to be related to the addition of Apple’s Force Touch display technology.
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